GOINGS ON : Looking at Variations of ‘The Nutcracker’ : The Santa Barbara Dance Theater and a ballet studio will offer renditions. ‘Winter Dancscape’ showcases a mix of styles.

A couple of Nutcrackers to report.

The Santa Barbara Dance Theater will present a “Nutcracker Fantasy” on Friday and Saturday at the Lobero Theatre. The company’s third annual production of Tchaikovsky’s traditional Christmas ballet--with a modern-day Santa Barbara twist to it--will include more than 100 area schoolchildren.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12.50 (adults) and $7.50 (children). Call 963-0761. The Lobero is at 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

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Santa Barbara’s waterfront area will be all dressed up for the holidays, this weekend. First, Santa Barbara’s Waterfront Department has arranged for snow to be deposited at the wharf Saturday morning at 10 a.m., with elves on hand to pass out candy canes. Then on Sunday at 6 p.m. the “8th Annual Parade of Lights,” which is expected to involve about 75 boats, will take off from Santa Barbara Harbor. The line of lighted vessels will head east past the wharf to the Cabrillo Bathhouse, where it will turn around and head back to the harbor. Call 564-5519 for information on either of the events.

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Santa Barbara dancers Claire Weatherhead (a scholarship student at the Boston School of Ballet) and Kimberly Swihart (on scholarship with the Joffrey Ballet) will join the Ellen Schipper Classical Ballet Studio in a presentation of “The Nutcracker” at UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $14 (general) and $7 (children age 12 and younger). Call 893-3535.

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There’s even an Un-Nutcracker to tell you about.

The Diane Knowles Academy of Dance and its performance company, the Santa Barbara Chamber Ballet, will present its ninth annual “Winter Dancscape” concert Saturday at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito.

The program will include a mix of ballet, jazz and modern dance. “There are some pieces from the ‘Nutcracker,’ Shostakovich, Enya, some contemporary ballet,” Knowles said.

Performance time is 10:30 a.m. A $5 donation is suggested. The Music Academy is at 1070 Fairway Road.

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The Santa Barbara City Firefighters Assn. will hold its 10th annual “Community Christmas Party” on Friday at the Boys & Girls Club, 632 E. Canon Perdido St. The free event will feature a dance demonstration by the Studio E Hip Hop Dancers, refreshments and an appearance by Santa. The party is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Call 962-2382 for information.

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Students from Santa Barbara City College’s electronic music program will present live and taped works in a Sonic Sequences Concert on Friday at the school’s Garvin Theatre. Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets are $7 (general) and $5 (senior citizens). Call 965-5935. The theater is on the west side of campus, in the 800 block of Cliff Drive.

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Santa Barbara’s Sea Center will present hourlong programs about gray whales at 11 a.m. Monday through Dec. 22. Education assistant Kathy Rainbolt will discuss the evolution of the gray whale and its migration, feeding and birthing practices. The programs are free with admission to the center, which is $2 (adults), $1.50 (senior citizens), $1 (children age 3 to 17) and free (children under 3). For information, call 962-0885. The Sea Center, run by the Museum of Natural History and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, is at 211 Stearns Wharf.

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Ongoing: Work by contemporary Cuban artists is on display at Santa Barbara’s Guernica Gallery of Graphic Arts through Dec. 26. The exhibit, “Cuban Art 1973-1993,” features paintings, drawings, serigraphs and lithographs by 22 artists living in Cuba. The show is co-sponsored by the Center for Cuban Studies in New York City. The gallery is at 32 E. Micheltorena St. Call 965-5565.

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Planning ahead: The Bach Camerata of Santa Barbara has announced its first chamber music series, a six-concert season set to begin Feb. 10. The concerts are planned for the Music Academy of the West in Montecito and Ventura’s City Hall. The tentative schedule: Feb. 10 and 27, March 10, April 7 and May 12 in Santa Barbara, and Feb. 11 and 25, March 11, April 8 and May 6 in Ventura.

Tickets are $71 for all six concerts, $37.50 for three and $14 for one. Children under age 14 can get into each concert for $5. Series tickets are on sale now; single tickets will be available beginning Jan. 10. Call 966-3492.